Ordinary but Necessary

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[1:00] Thank you.

[1:30] That kind of bumper or teaser is for our upcoming series, Miracles. Two weeks from this weekend, we're going to be starting that new series, looking at the miracles of Jesus and the supernatural power that Christ has.

[1:49] And we're really excited about starting that series here in two weeks. What we've done last week and this week is really just to kind of have some standalone messages that are meant to encourage you.

[2:03] You know, sometimes while I'm preaching through a series, I have other ideas. I know that may shock some of you, but I have other ideas. I'm like, I'd really like to preach on that. And so you kind of set them aside.

[2:13] And this kind of in-between gives me an opportunity to speak on a few things that maybe in a series I can't get to. Last week on the 4th of July weekend, we looked at Psalm 34, which is a psalm of praise to God for his deliverance.

[2:31] And so if you're in a difficult situation right now, or you feel like you need deliverance, I encourage you, if you missed last week, to go back and to watch that sermon. I trust that it will encourage you.

[2:43] Tonight, we're going to look at several different passages. We'll start here in Nehemiah chapter 3, but we'll look at a few other passages as we go along the way. And I really hope, and I've been praying that tonight's message would be a real encouragement to you in your life and where you are in your season of life and your journey of faith.

[3:06] And so I pray that God will speak to us tonight as we look to his word. And I'll welcome those of you that are online and watching our service there. So if you're able now, would you please stand?

[3:17] And you may want to get comfortable. You might be standing for a little bit as we read Nehemiah chapter 3. Nehemiah chapter 3. And give me grace as I read this. Then Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priest, and they built the sheep gate.

[3:35] They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated as far as the tower of the hundred, as far as the tower of Hananel. The next to him, the men of Jericho built, and next to them, Zachur, the son of Imri, built.

[3:52] The sons of Hashaneah built the fish gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. Next to them, Meramoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hakaz, repaired.

[4:08] And next to them, Meshulam, the son of Barakah, the son of Malchezabel, repaired. And next to them, Zadok, the son of Baanah, repaired.

[4:23] And next to them, the Tecolites, repaired. But their nobles would not stoop to serve their lord. Joiada, the son of Pasheah, and Meshulam, the son of Basodeah, repaired the gate of Yeshena.

[4:41] They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them, repaired Melathea, the Gibeonite, and Jadon, the Moronathite, and men of Gibeon, and of Mishpah, the seat of the governor of the province beyond the river.

[5:00] And next to them, Azuel, the son of Herathea, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him, Hananeah, one of the perfumers, repaired.

[5:11] And they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. Some of you are thinking, what did I come to tonight? Next to them, Rathhea, the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired.

[5:25] Next to them, Jedaiah, the sons of Herumath, repaired opposite his house. And next to them, Hattish, the son of Hashabaniah, repaired.

[5:38] Melkijah, the son of Harem, and Hashab, the son of Pathumoab, repaired another section and the tower of the ovens. Next to him, Shalom, the son of Halohash, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired.

[5:54] He and his daughters. Hanan, and the inhabitants of Zenoa, repaired the valley gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

[6:05] And repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the dung gate. Melkijah, the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-Hakarim, repaired the dung gate.

[6:17] He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And Shalom, the son of Kalhosa, ruler of the district of Mishpah, ruler of the fountain gate.

[6:29] He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, and its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the pool of Shalah, of the king's garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.

[6:42] After him, Nehemiah, the son of Asbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-Zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, as far as the house of the mighty men.

[6:56] After him, the Levites repaired. Raham, the son of Bani. Next to him, Hashabiah, ruler of the half district of Keilah, repaired for his district.

[7:09] And after him, their brothers repaired. Bavi, the son of Hadandad, ruler of half the district of Keilah. Next to him, Ezher, the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mishpah, ruled another section opposite the accent to the armor at the buttress.

[7:26] After him, Baruch, the son of Zabih, repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Elishab, the high priest. Some of you, he's really reading all of these.

[7:38] After him, Merimoth, the son of Uriah, son of Hakaz, repaired another section from the door of the house of Elishab, to the end of the house of Elishab. And after him, the priests, the men of the surrounding area, repaired.

[7:52] After them, Benjamin and Hashab repaired opposite their house. After them, Azariah, the son of Maaseah, son of Ahaniah, repaired beside his own house.

[8:04] After him, Benui, a son of Henedad, repaired another section from the house of Azariah, to the buttress to the corner. Palau, the son of Uzzi, repaired opposite the buttress in the tower projecting for the upper house of the king at the court of the guard.

[8:21] After him, Paideah, a son of Parosh, the temple servants living in Ophel, repaired to a point opposite the water gate on the east in the projecting tower.

[8:33] After him, the Tekaites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. Above the horse gate, the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house.

[8:47] And after them, Zadok, the son of Emir, repaired opposite his own house. And after him, Shemaiah, the son of Zacharniah, a keeper of the east gate, repaired.

[8:59] And after him, Hananiah, the son of Shalamiah. And Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired the other section. And after him, Meshulam, the son of Barakah, repaired opposite his chamber.

[9:15] After him, Melchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants, one of the merchants, opposite the muster gate. And to the upper chamber of the corner.

[9:27] And between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired. And all God's people said, Amen.

[9:38] Some of you are like, I'm glad I didn't have to do that, alright? Now you're looking at me funny like, I didn't say sit. We haven't prayed yet, right? Some of you are like, did he read the wrong passage tonight?

[9:53] Like, is he seriously going to preach this text? Yes, I am. Let's pray. Father, thank you for every word in your word. Because we believe that every chapter of every book and every name, even if we don't know how to pronounce them, is inspired by you.

[10:12] And so, God, I believe that you have a message for us tonight. I believe that what we just read is a meaningful, meaningful truth that we need to embrace and believe with all our hearts.

[10:25] So, Holy Spirit, come speak to us now, to the glory of Jesus Christ. And we pray it in his name. And God's people said, Amen. Now you may be seated. If I mentioned his name, almost every one of you would have heard of him.

[10:45] Captain Chesley Sullenberger. Or Sully, as he's called. Now, most of you know exactly who I'm talking about, and you know why he's so famous.

[10:59] Sully, Captain Sully, was the pilot that demonstrated the heroic skill and composure in landing the U.S. Airways flight 1549 into the Hudson River.

[11:11] The date was January 15, 2009. The U.S. Airways flight had just taken off, and just a few moments after leaving LaGuardia's airport, the plane collided with one of aviation industry's most threatening foes, a flock of geese.

[11:30] The birds struck the engines, and the engines began to fail, and Captain Sullenberger had to make an emergency landing. Air traffic control told him that he needed to head to a nearby airport, but Captain Sullenberger informed them he would not be able to make it.

[11:49] We're going to have to land in the Hudson, he said, as 150 passengers, along with a few crew members, embraced for impact.

[12:00] Ninety seconds later, Captain Sullenberger glided the Airbus 320 over the George Washington Bridge and onto the surface of the chilly Hudson River.

[12:14] Flight attendants quickly ushered the passengers into their life jackets and out the emergency exits where commuter ferries and rescue boats arrived at the scene.

[12:24] Only one individual had two broken legs, a few others with some minor injuries, but there was not one single fatality on that plane.

[12:39] As a result, Captain Sullenberger became instantly famous. He received a slew of honors, including an invitation to President Obama's presidential inauguration.

[12:52] He was honored by the U.S. Congress. They even made a movie about him starring Tom Hanks. How many of you have seen the movie? Several of you.

[13:03] But what was interesting is what Captain Sullenberger said when he was honored on January 22, 2009. He said this, and I quote, I want to thank you for this honor, but I could not have done it.

[13:22] I could not have done it without my co-pilot. Co-pilot? You'd be hard-pressed to even know there was a co-pilot, and nobody knows his name unless you Google it.

[13:35] For the record, his name is Jeff Skiles. The man who is flipping all the switches. The man who is keeping all the passengers calm.

[13:46] The man that was doing all the other necessary things so that Captain Sullen could do his job. Faith family, I want you to hear me tonight.

[13:59] Jeff Skiles may not be known, but Captain Sullen didn't land that plane alone. Amen?

[14:10] Amen? He may not be known, but he did not land that plane alone. It's easy in our celebrity culture where bright lights and spotlights get all the praise to forget, listen, the blessedness of secondness.

[14:30] The blessedness of secondness. That there are little things in life, common roles in life, common people whose names will never be known, actions will never be shown, and yet God uses their ordinary life in extraordinary ways for his kingdom.

[14:53] In fact, let me give you a quiz. How many of you, and just shout it out if you know the answer, how many of you know the name of the person that led Billy Graham to faith in Christ? No one?

[15:06] How many of you know the name of the person that was preaching the gospel the night Charles Spurgeon was saved? How many of you know the names of the financial supporters of Lottie Moon and her mission to China?

[15:21] How many of you know the name of the person that encouraged Charles Wesley to write many of the great hymns we know? How many of you know the name of the person that taught Martin Luther theology?

[15:35] Who here knows the name of the person that encouraged Martin Luther King Jr. to persevere? Do you know any of those answers? Well, be of good cheer. I don't either.

[15:48] But there are answers. There are actual answers to those questions. Actual people.

[15:59] Co-pilots whose names are unknown, but their lives were necessary. Names that are not known by your eye, but names I assure you are known in heaven.

[16:14] And those names are still the same today. A single mom who can barely make ends meet, yet somehow finds the time to sow seeds of the gospel in her children's lives.

[16:26] The nursery worker who wipes the next generation of church leaders. The financial supporter who is committed to making sure that the preaching of the gospel continues on.

[16:40] Bankers and contractors and teachers and industry workers and Uber drivers and small church pastors and politicians and project managers.

[16:50] All who understand they don't just have a job to do. They have a mission to do. Names that are not known. And for all practical purposes, they are ordinary.

[17:03] But I want to declare to you tonight, Faith Family, they are absolutely necessary. Unknown they may be. But necessary they are.

[17:15] Look at this on the screen. By necessary, I don't mean that God can't do His work without you. I mean God has chosen to do His work through you.

[17:27] It's why I endured reading the text at the beginning of the message. And you endured it too. It's why I specifically chose Nehemiah 3.

[17:39] Because I knew it would be the kind of passage that would make you look at me funny. That halfway through you'd be scratching your head like, Well, there's no sermon here.

[17:49] Why would you read a passage like this? In fact, be honest, it's the kind of passage you skip over in your Bible reading and you go to the Gospel of John. You don't like to read those names.

[18:01] And yet I would submit to you, Faith Family, that the names of which we read were instrumental in the mission of God. In the days of Nehemiah.

[18:12] Oh, Nehemiah, we know his name. We do leadership lessons on Nehemiah. He's got a book in the Bible named after him. But listen to me, Faith Family. Nehemiah didn't rebuild the wall himself.

[18:25] There are names that we do not even know, though they're in black and white in our Bibles, that were absolutely necessary to the mission of God.

[18:37] Between chapter 2, where the work begins, chapter 4, where it's halfway done, and chapter 6, when the rebuilding is finished, is chapter 3.

[18:49] A list of co-pilots whose names I guarantee you did not learn in Vacation Bible School. Nobody went to Vacation Bible School and heard about Mishnah or whoever, right?

[19:05] No, you heard about Abraham and Nehemiah and David. And yet I would submit to you, these ordinary unknown names were just as equally a part of the purpose and plan of God.

[19:18] We will not go back through them, so be of good cheer. But let me give you just a summary of the radically diverse group of people that we just read about.

[19:30] In verse 1, Nehemiah mentions priests and the high priests, teachers of the law. In verse 2, these are people from Jericho, about 12 miles away.

[19:40] These are commuters, if you will. Verse 5-7, those that came from Tokeah. These were out-of-towners as well. Verse 8, these were perfume makers.

[19:53] Verse 9, there was even a ruler and a government official who knew they did work. I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, all right? In verse 12, you have another government official who helped along with his daughters.

[20:08] In verse 17, you have the Levites, who were the assistants to the priest. In verse 23, you have two single men. Verse 26, you have temple servants.

[20:21] Verse 32, you have a security guard. And you have merchants and businessmen. I mean, this is like a list out of Toby Keith's song. Winners and losers, chain smokers and boozers.

[20:33] This is quite a radical, diverse group of people. Listen to me, ordinary to the world. But necessary to the mission of God.

[20:47] And by necessary, I don't mean that God can't do his work without you. I mean that God has chosen to do his work through you. Are you listening to me tonight, Faith Family?

[20:59] Or think about Caleb. Sure, we know Caleb's name. But have you thought about the fact that Caleb had the same experience and qualifications as Joshua?

[21:15] Both of them were born in Egypt. Both of them were spies in the wilderness. Both of them were eyewitnesses to the miracles in the desert. Both of them went through the Red Sea. Both of them were courageous young men. Both of them grew up together and suffered together.

[21:27] And yet when Moses died, it was Joshua who was appointed the leader. And Caleb played the hardest instrument there is to play in the orchestra.

[21:41] What is it? Second fiddle. He understood the blessedness of secondness. Or think about what the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26.

[21:55] Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. Not many of you powerful. Not many of you are of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

[22:07] God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

[22:23] Paul is saying, to the world you may look ordinary, but to God you are absolutely necessary. Oh, by necessary, I don't mean that God can't do His work without you.

[22:38] I simply mean that God has chosen to bring about His mission through you. Though your name may never be known, though it may never be written in a book, the will and purpose and mission of God is coming to pass through your life.

[23:01] I remind you what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

[23:14] On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker or unnecessary are, say it with me, indispensable. Faith family, if you are here today and you feel ordinary, I want you to understand tonight that you are necessary.

[23:35] You are necessary to the purpose and plan of God because God has a history of taking the ordinary and doing extraordinary.

[23:51] Amen? And there's probably no better example of this than the book of Acts. Stephen Neal wrote a book called The History of Christian Missions. In it, he writes this, There is nothing more remarkable to the spread of the gospel in the early church than its anonymity.

[24:09] There were three major church planting centers in the early church, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome, and we have no idea who founded them. Ordinary people whose names are not known that God used to do extraordinary things.

[24:26] And one of those ordinary people that we find in the book of Acts is a man by the name of Stephen. And if you're overwhelmed with all this information at this point, we're going to land the plane here and settle in on Stephen for the remainder of our time.

[24:43] Stephen, so if you want to turn to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 6 and 7, Stephen is an ordinary person. He is no apostle. He has no PhD from the University of Jerusalem.

[24:57] He's not a famous person in the Bible. There's no impressive pedigree of which he can boast in. But look at the incredible impact that Stephen has in someone's life.

[25:10] Chapter 7, verse 58. Some of you know it. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named who?

[25:24] Saul, as you will know to be Paul. Stephen, this ordinary life, this individual that has no impressive resume at all, is used of God to influence one person.

[25:41] And that one person, God will use to turn the world upside down. And I am preaching this tonight to say, that's not just a story you read about in the Bible.

[25:56] That's a story you're living every day. Your life. Where you go to work and where you live and what you do. And all of that that may look ordinary.

[26:10] I'm telling you, God is doing extraordinary beyond what you may be able to see. So what is it that we can learn from Stephen's life that we might be ordinary people making an extraordinary difference for the sake of Christ?

[26:28] Let me show you the first characteristic. You see this theme throughout chapter 6. Look at chapter 6, verse 3. Acts 6, verse 3. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.

[26:46] Look at chapter 6, verse 5. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Spirit.

[26:58] Look at verse 10, same chapter. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Chapter 7, verse 55. But he, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

[27:20] Here's the first characteristic I would submit to you tonight. Stephen's was an ordinary life filled with the Holy Spirit. An ordinary life filled with the Holy Spirit.

[27:32] Consistently throughout chapter 6, it is said that Stephen is a man full of the Spirit. Now, when I say that he is filled with the Spirit or full of the Holy Spirit, some of you will either think emotional things or mystical things.

[27:48] Maybe you think of a particular denomination or tradition. Maybe if you're new to the Christian faith, you don't really know what to think of full of the Spirit. That sounds kind of strange.

[27:59] But this is actually not all that complicated and often way misunderstood in our present day denominations. What it means to be full of the Spirit is actually rather simple.

[28:12] The Bible frequently puts walking by the flesh up against walking according to the Spirit. Two examples. Galatians 5, verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit and you'll not gratify the desires of the flesh.

[28:27] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. So you either walk according to the things of self or you walk according to the things of God, flesh, spirit.

[28:39] Romans 8, 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh. Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

[28:50] And then one last one. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 5, verse 18. He says, do not be drunk with wine, that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

[29:03] Now just think with me what that means. What does it mean to be full of the Spirit? To be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, if I say somebody is full of anger, somebody is full of love, somebody is full of baloney, or whatever it is, all right?

[29:20] What do I mean? What you mean is they're dominated by it. That is, to say that somebody is full of anger means that they are controlled by their anger.

[29:32] Paul here says, do not be drunk with wine. If I took a whole bottle of wine and drank all of it, what would I be? Besides Lutheran, all right?

[29:43] That's a joke, all right? What would I be? I'd be drunk. That means that alcohol would start impacting my decisions. Alcohol would start influencing my behavior.

[29:55] What Paul is saying is, don't be drunk with wine. Be drunk, parallel words. Be filled, be controlled, be influenced by the Spirit.

[30:07] It really is this simple faith family. Notice it on the screen. To be filled with the Spirit means you're so consumed with God that your life is controlled by God.

[30:19] You drink of God so that you're controlled, influenced, drunk, if you will, on God. Not the flesh. Not the world.

[30:31] Stephen is somebody that is so consumed with God, his life is controlled by God. This will preach faith family, and maybe it's just a few of you here that need this, but look at it on the screen.

[30:45] To be used of God does not mean that you need famous status. You only need be filled with the Spirit. You do not need a famous status.

[30:57] It was such a great place for an amen, and you totally missed it, except those of you online. You just need to be filled with the Spirit. An ordinary life filled with the Spirit of God made an extraordinary difference for the mission of God.

[31:16] And think about what Jesus said to his ordinary disciples. Look at John 16, verse 7. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

[31:32] Now, on the surface, that sounds absurd, does it not? If it weren't Jesus saying it, we might think it's absurd. I mean, be honest. Don't you think you'd rather have Jesus physically with you every day?

[31:44] Amen? How many of you would rather have Jesus physically with you every day? That'd be awesome. You have a hard day, he gives you strength. You have a theological question, he gives you the answer. You run out of food, a sub-sandwich appears out of nowhere.

[31:57] Your dog dies, he resurrects your dog from the dead. Your cat dies, he helps you bury it in the ground. He wouldn't resurrect a cat, right?

[32:07] But the point is, of course, you'd be like, I'd rather have Jesus with me physically every day. But Jesus says, it's actually better that he leave and the Helper, the Holy Spirit, come.

[32:21] You don't need great power on your own. You don't need status. You don't need enormous talent. You don't need your name in lights. All you need is to be consumed with God so that your life becomes controlled by God and your ordinary life and my ordinary life will make an extraordinary difference.

[32:45] Characteristic number two is found in verse 10 of chapter 6. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came to him and seized him and brought him before the council and they set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place in the law for we have heard him say this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.

[33:23] Here's the second characteristic of this ordinary man was an ordinary life devoted to the scriptures. an ordinary life devoted to the scriptures. The Bible here says that Stephen spoke with wisdom and authority.

[33:38] It's something that he had devoted his life to. Now I want you to follow me just a moment so that I can make this point. I'm actually going to summarize a lot of Acts chapter 7 so that we won't go through it in every single detail.

[33:51] But when Stephen is addressing these accusations from the religious leaders and he's being claimed that he's disrespecting the patriarchs and the law in the Old Testament Stephen essentially says this Do you remember Abraham?

[34:06] This is verse 2 through verse 8. Remember when God called him and brought him to a land he didn't know and made a covenant with him? How God promised him an offspring and gave him the sign of circumcision as a reminder and how your entire history throughout the Old Testament has been waiting for that offspring?

[34:25] Yeah, yeah, we know. And do you remember Joseph verse 9 through 16? A Jewish man that was rejected by his own family exalted and provided salvation to the very ones that wanted to kill him.

[34:38] Yeah, of course we know Joseph. And do you remember Moses chapter 7 or verse 17 through 44? A Jewish man in a position of authority that left his royal courts of Egypt to be identified with a slave people and yet led them on a journey to the promised land?

[34:56] Yeah, of course we know Moses. And do you remember David verse 45 through 50? He wanted to build God a temple but God said David wouldn't build the temple it would come through Solomon.

[35:07] A temple which would be the very place where God and man would meet. Do you remember all of those things? Of course. Now look at verse 51 of chapter 7.

[35:20] Here's how he ends the sermon. How's this for a sermon conclusion? You stiff-necked people uncircumcised in hearts and ears you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so do you.

[35:35] Which of the apostles did your fathers not persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.

[35:52] Here is what Stephen is saying. You missed the entire point of the Old Testament when you missed Jesus.

[36:04] You missed the entire point of the Old Testament. I'm not bad-mouthing the Old Testament. I'm telling you the Testament has already been fulfilled that Jesus is the offspring of Abraham that Jesus is the real Joseph that Jesus is the ultimate Moses that Jesus is the true temple.

[36:23] You are like your fathers you can't see the truth right before your very eyes. Now that's Stephen's sermon.

[36:34] What's my point? Listen please listen where did he learn that? Vacation Torah school?

[36:45] the Jerusalem council for theological advancement. How did Stephen know this? He knew this because remember after Jesus was resurrected he took his disciples and beginning with Moses and the prophets showed them how he fulfilled the Old Testament which is exactly how the apostles preach in the book of Acts Acts chapter 2 3 4 and 6 namely that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament so how did Stephen learn it?

[37:18] He prioritized and devoted his life to the teaching of the apostles what we know as the word of God Stephen a common man an ordinary man of no pedigree or fame or status was able to make an incredible difference for God because he knew the word of God look at this on the screen we are of little threat to the mission of God if we are not armed with the word of God amen Stephen was an ordinary life but he was full of the Holy Spirit and he was devoted to the study of scripture third characteristic and we'll wrap this up third characteristic was his was an ordinary life that was unmoved in suffering he was unmoved in suffering as you can imagine when

[38:22] Stephen finishes this sermon his audience is not happy I mean how many of you would like if I ended this sermon you stiff neck people you just always get it wrong right it will probably be less less of you here next week right Stephen ends that way and they are fuming mad look at verse 54 now when they heard these things they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him they are madder than a one legged waitress at IHOP I mean they are furious with Stephen and they cannot wait to take him down now fate family listen to me if you don't like cold don't live in Minnesota amen and I'm a bear fan I was going to use Vikings there but I'm like I pick on them too much so I picked on me right here's the point listen fate family if you don't want to be rejected and misunderstood don't follow Jesus what did we learn in the sermon on the mount blessed are the persecuted when you take peacemaking evangelism seriously you will be persecuted but blessed are you when others revile you and utter all kinds of false things against you on my account that's the good life

[39:35] Stephen knew very much how following Jesus meant suffering if you want the world's approval you won't get it as a Christian amen we talk about wanting to be the hands and feet of Jesus let me remind you what they did to the hands and feet of Jesus they drove nails through them the popular word for the last several years in evangelicalism is missional we want to be missional we want to be a missional church I want to be a missional Christian they write books about missional strategies listen for for Stephen what it meant to be missional was to be martyred this would cost Stephen his life he was an ordinary Christian used in an extraordinary way because he was willing to embrace whatever the cost was for following Jesus notice it on the screen that following

[40:36] Jesus may not end your life but it does require your life I'm telling you if nobody ever knows your name if all you have is an ordinary life God can use your life in extraordinary ways just be consumed!

[40:51] with God full of the spirit devoted to the scriptures willing to embrace whatever the cost may be fourth and final because some of you were waiting on that point the final one is an ordinary life that images the Savior an ordinary life that images the Savior in the midst of the suffering and persecution look at how Stephen responds when they start pelting stones on him and his flesh is being ripped away look at verse 59 and as they were stoning Stephen he called out Lord Jesus receive my spirit and falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice Lord do not hold this sin against them and when he had said this he fell asleep as the rocks were ripping his flesh and crushing his bones and he barely had enough energy to do anything his last and dying prayer was what receive my spirit and do not hold their sin against them which sounds a whole lot like father forgive them they know not what they do what is

[42:10] Luke's point here in Acts that Stephen was full of the spirit like Jesus that Stephen was a gracious man like Jesus that Stephen spoke with authority like Jesus that Stephen was falsely accused like Jesus that Stephen was rejected like Jesus that Stephen was willing to die like Jesus and Stephen prays for the forgiveness of his enemies like Jesus Jesus it's an incredible point and I've got to wrap this up because we're out of time is that there's something about when you're consumed with God and full of the spirit and devoted to the scriptures how the life of Jesus begins to be present in yours amen almost like I am the vine and you are the branches and if you abide!

[43:05] in me and I in you you will produce fruit you see in Stephen not a perfect life but a life that images his savior and that's going to make a lasting impact on a zealous religious man named Saul and it's going to turn his life upside down which is going to turn the world upside down oh there's so much more I want to say to this but let me just leave you tonight with this I want you to leave this evening knowing and believing and that God will use your ordinary life in extraordinary ways that you do not need status all you need is a life full of the spirit a life devoted to the scriptures a life that's willing to suffer and a life that albeit not perfectly images your savior and as a result your life may not be used to save 154 people from an airplane your life might just be used to save one from an eternity without

[44:20] God you might impact just one whose life will leave a ripple effect in the world that cannot be measured after all in human terms our savior's life was anything but extraordinary born in a manger from a hit town called Nazareth parents were commoners his trade was carpentry his followers fishermen and tax collectors and his life did not end in celebration it ended in crucifixion and yet through him God changed the world and our lives forever ever amen so live live not a life that when it's finished people will know your name live a life that when it's finished they will bow to his ordinary just trying to point people to the one who is absolutely necessary and all

[45:41] God's people said amen would you pray with me God thank you for this overview there's so much more in the Bible that speaks to this very reality men and women who had no status of the world who had nothing in their hands to bring and yet you use them in extraordinary extraordinary ways and I think we forget this in the daily grind of going to work and raising families and doing what just seems very very ordinary we forget that the extraordinary is right there in the midst of it that there's a mission a ripple effect that's taking place and I pray that we would be much more aware and intentional towards that your mission is going forth your truth is marching on and you're using our lives here at

[46:42] Faith Family in small ways of which the spotlights will never show the news will never report but your mission goes forth nonetheless a mission to tell the world that Jesus is the only way to the Father I pray God that you would continue to use this ordinary church to do extraordinary things in your name and we pray this in Christ's name and God's people said